Possible iPhone 4 Recall As Apple PR Disaster Grows

Now that the iPhone 4 has been out for a few weeks and many people have had it in their hands to test, the antenna / signal dropping situation has been demonstrated time and time again to be a very real issue. Holding the lower left hand corner of the iPhone causes a significant loss in signal strength. For those who are in low-signal areas to begin with, this often results in losing their connection entirely and not-surprisingly as soon as the corner of the phone is released, the connection is restored.

Apple issued a statement regarding the matter on July 2nd which essentially said that the iPhone is incorrectly reporting signal strength via the number of bars displayed. In an attempt to resolve the matter, Apple plans to release a patch to fix the discrepancy soon. In other words, a user whose phone says it has 3 bars in reality has less than that and after applying Apple's fix the phone would read the correct amount of bars for that person (1 or 2 bars). In reality it isn't a fix... touching the specific spot will continue to kill the signal since many believe that it is a hardware issue as opposed to a software one.The fix will just allow users to have an advanced warning of the results knowing when it will most likely drop their connection or lower their signal strength as opposed to it being a surprise.

This week, many people are discussing a hardware recall, which they feel is bound to happen. Professor Matthew Seeger of Wayne State University told Cult of Mac that there is an "inevitable" hardware recall. Meanwhile, Dr. Larry Barton doesn't understand Apple's slow response to the issue, stating that "There has to be a military-like response to this issue and we have not seen this kind of urgency."

Something like a hardware recall would be a huge disaster, considering the damage that has already been done to Apple's PR. Many sources that people look towards for opinions and information such as Consumer Reports (CR) have already suggested that people should not buy the iPhone 4. Many of you can say what you want but CR is a pretty definitive guide for a huge number of consumers who look to research before making a purchase.

Furthermore, rumor has it that Apple is holding out to release the software fix since they want to patch the jailbreak exploit as well. Many in the jailbreak community, such as the iPhone Dev Team, have already figured out and released images of a jailbroken iPhone 4 and are waiting for Apple to release the next OS update before they release their jailbreak utility. How long is Apple willing to hold out to try and patch the exploit? Time is ticking and the frustration and anger of many just continues to rise. Apple has to act fast, let's see their next move.